Gujarat Titans made costly misses on the field when they dropped Finn Allen twice, and the Kolkata Knight Riders opener made them pay by scoring a blazing 35-ball 93, as KKR piled up 247 for 2 in an IPL match on Saturday. GT fielders dropped Allen on 14 and 33.
He smashed 10 sixes and four boundaries during his knock. He became the first batter to hit 10 sixes in an IPL innings twice in a season. Allen’s 10 sixes took his tally for IPL 2026 to an incredible 27 sixes in just nine matches. It is now the highest number of sixes hit by a KKR player in their debut season, going past Phil Salt’s record of 24 in 2024. Allen is also just five sixes away from breaking the overall IPL record for most sixes in a debut season, held by Mumbai Indians legend Sanath Jayasuriya, who smashed 31 in 2008.
While Allen dominated the bowlers early on, Angkrish Raghuvanshi remained unbeaten on 82 and Cameron Green stayed not out on 52 as the duo added 108 runs in only 53 balls for the third wicket.
GT had a forgettable day on the field, dropping four catches in total. Allen, Raghuvanshi and Green all made the most of those chances and went on to score big fifties.
Raghuvanshi got a reprieve on 52 when Washington Sundar dropped him, while Green was put down on 23 by Arshad Khan off Rashid Khan’s bowling.
Allen, speaking after the match, called Raghuvanshi a “starboy”, who is expanding his game. “Starboy. He is an incredible player, and he is continuing to expand his game. He has a great base and can play some unbelievable shots. For someone so young to be relied on so heavily by the team just shows how good he is. It is really exciting for the franchise to have someone so young performing so consistently, and it is probably great for Indian cricket as well. I cannot speak highly enough of him — he is a really good kid,” Allen said.
Asked about KKR’s playoff chances, Allen said preparation would be key going into the last must-win league games.
“One thing we have done really well this season is stay composed. Even when we had a tough start, the dressing room remained calm, and that is a credit to the support staff and Jinx (skipper Ajinkya Rahane) for driving that mindset through the group. We have taken it game by game throughout the tournament. We know we need to win the last two matches to have any chance of qualifying, so the focus is simply on preparing well, training hard and doing our job,” he said.
